[urq] Automobile magazine - other misinfo

[Dan DiBiase]

--- Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net> wrote:

> I posted about this in March when someone said something about A6 4.2  
> values, and ebay was mentioned.  Any economics professor will tell  
> you that auctions don't represent market value.  Google for "winner's  
> curse", or read: http://slate.msn.com/id/21810/
> 
> Basically, if you won the auction, you paid more than anyone else was  
> willing to pay- and hence you didn't pay fair market value for the  
> item in question.

Interesting article. But I would say that while you can't use eBay as a
sure-fire way to determine market value for those products, like cars,
that have other resources (like KBB or Galves) that purport to be expert
in valuation, for other items, you may have no other resource to turn to.
For example, say you were in the market for a piece of toast with an
etching of the Runaway Bride or a grilled cheese sandwich with a picture
of the Virgin Mary, where else can you go but eBay?! ;-)

In a more reasonable example, my older son is looking to purchase a
particular, no longer made guitar. I told him to monitor eBay to get an
idea of what they are going for. I do the same with any part for my
British cars that I am looking to buy. Granted, some of these purchases
may be influenced by the 'I gotta have it' syndrome and therefore are
overbid - but with a lrage enough sample, you can usually cull those out. 

Dan D
Central NJ USA